小過 → 明夷
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
Line 3
九三 弗過防之。從或戕之。凶。
Nine in the third place means: If one is not extremely careful, Somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune.
Line 6
上六 弗遇過之。飛鳥離之。凶。是謂災眚。
Six at the top means: He passes him by, not meeting him. The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
六翮況飛，走歸不及。脫歸王室，亡其騂特。
With six wings moreover flying, running cannot catch up; escaping to the royal house, losing the red bull.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain as six flight feathers beat the air in urgent escape — running on foot cannot keep pace. One breaks free and returns to the royal household, but the prized red sacrificial ox is lost. The six feathers (六翮) suggest a bird in desperate flight, and the flight's urgency implies pursuit or peril. The return to the royal house comes at a cost: the ceremonial animal, a symbol of legitimacy and ritual completeness, is sacrificed in the escape. Something essential is abandoned in the rush to survive. From Small Exceeding to Darkening of the Light, the mountain's thunder descends into fire buried beneath the earth — brilliance deliberately dimmed. The return is not triumphant but clandestine: one slips back into the palace having shed the visible marks of authority.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store